Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Yay for school (and a super scary Harry moment)

This week saw all three kids officially go to school! Jack started about three weeks ago. Harry and Addie started this week. So far, all three are loving it!

Jack is having a great time in first grade. He says his favorite subject is science, and I see why! They are doing a pretty cool unit right now on monarch butterflies. Just today he excitedly told me that they have four chrysalides (plural for chrysalis, thanks Google.) He only knew one kid in his class before starting, but he is getting along well with his tablemates, and has been playing with a few boys in his class. I am hoping in the next few weeks that he will start to make more friends in his class. (He can never seem to remember anyone's names, which is probably a dealbreaker as far as friendship goes. ;) ) He is always excited to see his friends from other classes at recess. Also, new this year, he is riding the bus home. He thinks this is a pretty big deal! The highlight of the ride is that he gets to sit with some of his friends from outside of school. I'm pretty sure that this is a major rite of passage into being a "big kid." He's in a motor vehicle, without his parents, and gets to choose where and with whom to sit. Next step: driver's license.

Harry is back at the same pre-school he went to last year, with the same fabulous teachers, in a different, but still wonderful, location. He also has many of the same classmates as last year, including his BFF Ave (or Aba, as he says.) He is not very forthcoming with information when he talks to me, but from what I can gather by eavesdropping on his conversations with Cory, he really enjoys when they do the "caterpillar walk." I think it is pretty much just all the kids walking in a line, but he thinks it's pretty great. The program he is in really great, and I am so happy he gets to go again this year!

Even Addie is going to school! She goes to the baby lab at the college two mornings a week. (This means that, after drive time etc., I have THREE HOURS a week WITHOUT CHILDREN. Granted, I will likely spend some of that volunteering at Jack's school, but still...) So far, she seems to really like it. They have all sorts of baby friendly things for her to climb on, and climbing is definitely one of her favorite things, baby friendly or not. She also thought it was a pretty big deal that they had tiny tables and chairs for her to snack at, instead of sitting in a highchair. She got up, more than once, to help herself to more snacks and juice. I'm pretty sure she thinks she is a big kid too. (Though I insist that she's still a baby...)

The other big event during the past week was the start of kettle corn season (also known as football season.) While at the first game, one of the most terrifying moments of my life as a parent occured. I was getting the price board all ready for the kettle corn booth to open. I told Jack and Harry to go over to the bounce house that is literally right next door to the kettle corn booth. Only one other family was in that part of the stadium, as the game had not yet started. I looked up every couple of minutes to see four little blonde heads bouncing. After about ten minutes, my mom went over to check in with them. She came over panicked, and said that Harry wasn't there. Not seeing how that was possible, I checked for myself. (Turns out the other family had three blonde boys.) I felt panicked as well as we dashed around looking for Harry, but as I mentioned, the game hadn't started yet, and the stadium was still pretty empty. The had the horrifying realization that he must have wandered out of the stadium to the still very crowded tailgate area (I squelched thoughts about him wandering into the street to help me attempt to keep my cool.) My mom flagged down a police officer, and I seriously thought I would barf as I gave him Harry's description and listened to him radio it out the the other cops. It turns out, Harry had gone to the bounce houses in the tailgate area, where he was confused because he "couldn't find my brudder." Some "army guys" found him (ROTC kids, I think,) gave him a piece of Double Bubble, and took him to the ticket stand where I, filled with relief and the feeling of being The Worst Parent on the Planet, picked him up. He told me, "The army guys tooked care of me." ( Humorous side story: About three days later, at bedtime, Jack said, "You care about Harry more than me because he got lost and got gum, but I didn't get gum.")